Hagia Sophia is an utterly unique building—a key ... Forty thousand pounds of silver encrusted the sanctuary. Columns of purple porphyry and green marble were crowned by capitals so intricately ...

Turkey's Hagia Sophia will open to visitors outside prayer times and its Christian icons will remain, religious officials said on Tuesday, after a court ruling paved the way for it to become a mosque.

It features 82 domes, over 1,000 columns, 24-karat gold chandeliers ... Sitting on the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean, the mosque overlooks the sea majestically. Hagia Sophia is a major historical ...